German born Frank Luthardt wrote in 2010 an
extensive academic report comparing three
organizations involved in international broadcasting,
SR Radio Sweden, YLE Radio Finland and the SRG
Swiss Radio International. Produced at Roskilde
University/Malmö Högskola the work was academically part
of the Öresund Master Programme of European
Studies.

" When the Cold War was over, Radio Finland still had its best years ahead and was
just right in the middle of an expansive period while Radio Sweden and
Swiss Radio International had to
back down, close languages or define a new role for themselves.."

The history of the Finnish international service had been rather
different from that of Radio Sweden and Swiss Radio International.
In the form it was known from the late 60s, Radio Finland
was financed by YLE on the basis of its regular
TV usage fee revenue and and it did not have much contact with the
Foreign Ministry. All through its years YLE Radio Finland gave
priority to serving Finnish nationals abroad and foreign language
programming was in a secondary role, except perhaps during the
buildup of foreing language services in 1985-1991.
(Radio Finland had been preceded by a totally Foreign-Ministry
run foreign language service that had been closed down in October 1958.
Between 1958 and 1967 broadcasting continued, but foreign language programming
was restricted to some features for SW enthusiasts.)
Radio Sweden and Swiss Radio International
were primarily serving international audiences in foreign
languages.

Luthardt dismisses the view that the late
buildup of Radio Finland was primarily related to the
fear of the Soviet Union, rather he sees it as a personnel matter:
"However, being cautious towards the Soviet Union was probably not the only
reason why programming at Radio Finland developed so slowly and late. Equally
important seems to have been that before Juhani Niinistö, there had been no driving
force within YLE committing itself to the establishment of a proper
international broadcasting service. Without that dedication, not much was
happening."

Luthardt notes that the Swiss service had probably enjoyed the greatest international prestige during
the Cold
War,but it had to go through the deepest identity crisis and finally took the
bravest step towards the future. Radio Sweden went through a
major transformation at the beginning of the 1990s and been searching for its
role for a long time and seemed, in the assesment by the German writer in 2010, to have found its niche in becoming a
national broadcaster that also can be used from abroad.

The end of the Cold War did not cause a major change of environment for
Radio Finland,
Luthardt notes. In fact, Radio Finland still had its best years
coming: It was not a time of radical change at the department – in marked
contrast to the situation in Sweden and Switzerland. - This may be a bit
astonishing, Luthart notes, as Radio Finland had been the most political
in its content (in its promotion
of Finnish neutrality and active argumentation against western
claims about finlandization, this added here by JN) of the three during the
previous decades and one could expect that its mission now had become obsolete
as it had happened to so many other international broadcasters. However, because
of the late start, Radio Finland still had its best years ahead of it and was
just right in the middle of an expansive period while its competitors had to
back down, close languages or define a new role for themselves, Luthardt notes. Besides this,
the station had always had a rather national focus, trying to inform about the
country in general and to explain Finnish positions to people in other parts of
the world. Even though it now became less necessary to emphasize that it was a "democracy
in the western sense of the word", the goal of giving listeners a better
understanding of Finland remained a relevant task to fulfil.
So this can explain why there were no noteworthy changes in the programmes in
Finnish, Swedish, English, German and French from Finland in the years around 1990.

On the other hand, two new language services were launched in that period.
Russian started in November 1990. . Because of the historical relationship
between Finland and the Soviet Union, this launch in was a
far more political issue than any of the earlier decisions to open
a language. Even after years of
Perestroika and the more or less peaceful system change in many Eastern European
countries, it was feared that the programmes could offend the still existing
Soviet Union,Luthart notes and explains how the management was careful to point out that
YLE did not pursue any
specific policy with the transmissions in Russian and emphasised the fact that
they would be based on central scripts as the German and French were.

Russian was also the only language that was not started on the
initiative of Juhani Niinistö, Luthardt notes, but because Reino Paasilinna, then YLE Director
General, wanted to set up the service. There was very little time between the
decision and the actual launch which led to problems with regard to recruitment
and contents. So it took some years until the Russian service was finally
established as a well-functioning subunit of Radio Finland, Luthardt notes

Luthardt also takes up the roundup in Latin. He rightly explains
it was not an external service production, but
from the first domestic network. It had started there in September
1989, but because of its presumed worldwide audience it was rebroadcast on
international frequencies from early 1990 onwards. The service
only occupied a fractional part of the total transmission hours, yet it was
probably the programme for which the station has won most fame on the global
radio scene. Vatican applauded it and many Latin teachers around the world have
used it as learning material in their classes.

Luthardt notes that of the three services
reviewed, Radio Finland came down fastest, between 2002
and 2006. He sees that as a repercussion of the
organizational position of Radio Finland, as a part of the
national broadcaster. There were no outside interests to be
consulted, at least officially. Fast decisions were
taken by YLE, starting with the closing of German, French
and English (as an international service language) in 2002.

Elsewhere on this site, see the timeline of Radio
Finland, both in Finnish and in English.